KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained positive during the week ending on March 14, 2025 due to potential development related to settlement of energy circular debt and IMF EFF program.
The benchmark KSE-100 index rose by 1,137 points, or 1 percent, week-on-week, closing at 115,536 points compared to 114,399 points the previous week. However, trading activity increased by 16 percent, with average daily volumes on the ready counter surged to 373 million shares, up from 291.43 million shares in the prior week.
The average daily traded value on the ready counter mounted up by 21 percent to Rs 22 billion during the last week compared to Rs 18.21 billion in the previous week.
BRIndex100 gained 141.55 points during the last week to close at 12,579.57 points up from 12,138 points with average daily turnover of 292.41 million shares. BRIndex30 increased by 190 points on a week-on-week basis to close at 37,451 points with average daily trading volumes of 193.66 million shares.
According to AHL Research, at the onset of the week, the monetary policy committee decided to maintain interest rates at 12 percent, which is contrary to expectation of a 50 bps cut, culminating to a negative impact on the market initially.
Towards mid-week, the momentum shifted to green zone on the anticipation of potential development related to settlement of energy circular debt. Furthermore, the IMF has agreed to cut FBR’s tax collection target, leading to further improvement in sentiment. Moreover, the remittance by overseas Pakistani’s increased by 39 percent YoY to $3.1 billion in Feb 2025. These inflows were highest after Jun 2024.
Furthermore, SBP raised PKR 15.8bn against the target of PKR 350bn, with cut-off for 5Y remained unchanged while 10Y declined by a meagre 1bp. Meanwhile, SBP reserves decreased by $152 million WoW, reaching a total of $11.1 billion.
Sector-wise positive contributions came from E&Ps 234pts, OMCs 194pts, Banks 179pts, Cement 118pts, and Fertilizer 110pts. Meanwhile, the sectors that contributed negatively were engineering 46pts, glass & ceramics 45pts, leather & tanneries 37pts, and automobile assembler 36pts.
Scrip-wise positive contributors were MARI, PSO, HBL, EFER, and DGKC. Whereas, scrip-wise negative contributions came from MTL, SRVI, PPL, HMB, and ISL. Foreigner selling continued during this week clocked in at $2.61 million compared to a net sell of 5.3 million last week. Major selling was witnessed in Commercial Banks $ 2.8 million followed by E&P $ 1.2 million.
On the local front, buying was reported by Banks and DFIs $110.9 million and Other Organizations $1.7 million.
Other major news was Engro completes divestment of Eximp Agriproducts for Rs2.4 billion, Haleon Pakistan ships first Centrum consignment to Kenya, OGDCL revives Rajian-11 heavy oil well, restores production to 1,000 BPD, K-Electric petitions for tariff cut of Rs4.84, and SBP approves Silk Bank’s merger with United Bank Limited.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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